Case: Hiring a Coder The director of the health information management departmen
ID: 128755 • Letter: C
Question
Case: Hiring a Coder The director of the health information management department has the opportunity to hire a new coder who, based on an exam the coder has taken, has excellent coding skills However, the director learns that the prospective employee is deaf. The coder communicates using sign language and at times has an interpreter with her. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provides that disabled employees must be able to perform the necessary functions of a job with "reasonable accommodations." Based on what you know of the law, would you hire the coder? If the coder asked that an interpreter be available, do you think that is a reasonable accommodation and if not, why not?Explanation / Answer
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) moved toward becoming law in 1990. The ADA is a social equality law that precludes victimization people with handicaps in every aspect of open life, including occupations, schools, transportation, and all open and private places that are available to the overall population.
The motivation behind the law is to ensure that individuals with handicaps have an indistinguishable rights and openings from every other person. The ADA is partitioned into five titles (or segments) that identify with various territories of open life.
Title I - Employment
Title II - Public Services: State and Local Government
Title III - Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities
Title IV - Telecommunications
Title V - Miscellaneous Provisions
Transportation
It is the right of the coder to get hired and it is required to provide the reasonable accommodations to the qualified employee to avoid future problems.